


the pretty follies that they commit

by orphan_account



Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Crushes, M/M, so pretty much hyuk is in the theatre club
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 07:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13266390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In which Sanghyuk gets cast in a play, and Hongbin is his ever-faithful best friend.Alternative title: Sanghyuk, Hongbin, and The Merchant of Venice.





	the pretty follies that they commit

**Author's Note:**

> so i felt like my writing style was kinda disintegrating.
> 
> so i wrote. again. third post this week XD
> 
> enjoy~
> 
> p.s.: a lot of things here are Shakespeare-inspired. mostly The Merchant of Venice. Pardon if I made any mistakes.

 Nothing much goes on in the theatre club when there isn’t anything to get ready for. During the designated time for club activities (Wednesdays and Fridays, four until five PM) the members stay either in the auditorium or backstage, don’t do a lot besides goofing around or perhaps reading some of the plays kept in the shelf backstage, soaking in personalities and practicing their pronunciation and intonation. Some would huddle into a circle and practice emotions, taking turns while the others chorus requests.

 Today, Sanghyuk finds himself reading, tucked into a corner, the script for “Beauty and the Beast” opened halfway. If they ever perform this, he wants to audition as Gaston— (something about his character has always fascinated Sanghyuk, and he thinks it would be fun and thrilling to portray him) and he’s lost in the world of the book, taking in Gaston’s little quirks and his overall characterization, his actor mind already whirring a mile a minute and thinking up ways to make the character _his_.

 Someone claps— most likely Hakyeon, their president, calling for a meeting— and Sanghyuk slips the book back into its place on the shelf and quickly stands and walks to where the rest of the club members are already gathering around him. They’re talking among themselves, cacophonous and grating to Sanghyuk’s ears, and it takes everything in him not to grimace.

 “Professor Kim just texted me,” Hakyeon says when everything has quieted down. He’s not the usual Hakyeon right now, the Hakyeon that clings to Taekwoon and Sanghyuk and Hongbin (much to the chagrin of the latter two) and to— everyone really. This isn’t the Hakyeon that pouts over the lack of attention and jokingly neck-chops everyone in his way. This isn’t the Hakyeon who gulps down banana milk in one go and stays up until three in the morning watching Girl’s Generation videos.

 No, this is Leader Hakyeon, who is all about professionalism and productivity and the quality of the final product. Truth be told, Sanghyuk is kind of scared of _this_ Hakyeon and his uninterruptible passion towards theatre.

 “We’re having a play in a couple of months,” he continues, reading from the tiny text on his phone before looking up to meet everyone’s eyes. Someone has a hand raised and Hakyeon, somehow already knowing the question, says, “And no. we aren’t picking the play this time.”

 Collective groans from the entire crowd. Hakyeon sighs.

 “We’re doing The Merchant of Venice,” he says, shutting off his phone and putting it in his pocket. “Practice well. Rehearsals will be on Friday.” And with that he sends them all a sunny smile, slipping back into his normal attitude. “And that’s all. We’re dismissed!”

 Sanghyuk is also kind of scared of how quickly and easily Hakyeon can slip back and forth between one mindset and another, serious one moment and perky and bubbly the next.

 The crowd quickly scatters, moving onto their personal business: grabbing bags, checking their phones, skimming the titles on the bookshelf in hopes of finding a copy of the play— there isn’t one. They have Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Macbeth, and Hamlet, and a variety of other Shakespearean titles, but they don’t have The Merchant of Venice. Sanghyuk knows that collection by heart. He should know.

 Sanghyuk slings his knapsack over one shoulder. There’s an insistent slap on his shoulder, and he turns to see Hakyeon and his sunny smile.

 “Are you planning on auditioning?” Hakyeon asks like he always does when they’re about to get started on a new performance and Sanghyuk shrugs.

 “Yeah, I mean, sure,” he says. “If I find someone that I want to be.”

 (Like he always says when Hakyeon asks him that question. He knows that ultimately he’ll end up auditioning anyway, and that he’ll get a role, and that the play will be executed so perfectly underneath Hakyeon’s iron fist. And he knows that the audience will love it and that Hongbin will be there watching, clapping so hard, his face practically glowing with pride.

 It makes something warm swell somewhere within Sanghyuk’s chest.)

 Hakyeon nods, “Great,” and walks off in the general direction of Sanghyuk-doesn’t-care-enough-to-look, most likely to pester Taekwoon or talk to Jaehwan.

 He glances longingly at the shelf.

 Damn, he’d really wanted to do Beauty and the Beast. He sighs. Maybe next time. One day. Right now, though, he needs to get home, maybe grab a couple snacks and a copy of The Merchant of Venice. He’s got an entirely different play to study.

 Sanghyuk leaves through the actual auditorium entrance instead of the door backstage as per usual, and as per usual he finds Hongbin comfortable on one of the front row chairs, grinning at him. “Finally. Took you long enough.”

 All thirty-two of his teeth are showing. And his twin dimples too. God, how Sanghyuk wants to reach out and poke those little things, maybe run the pad of his thumb through those cheeks and feel how smooth they are.

 Sanghyuk rolls his eyes. “You chose to wait. Look at you, so desperate, waiting all alone in this cold auditorium,” he quirks a grin of course, because how can he _not_ when Hongbin’s smile is so contagious. Hongbin laughs.

 “And look at you sticking with me, hm?” Hongbin says playfully, with a light punch to Sanghyuk’s shoulder.

 “I know you’ll be stuck with Hakyeon-hyung if I leave,” Sanghyuk says, “I only feel sorry for you.”

 Hongbin scoffs, “And you’ll be stuck with Jaehwan-hyung, and wouldn’t that be just as bad?” yet another flash of teeth, shiny and white, and Sanghyuk wants to _melt_ at the sight of them.

 It’s this playful banter that he loves, that makes his heart feel all warm and fuzzy and _weird_ , but a _good_ kind of weird that leaves him craving for more.  It’s this playful banter that never fails to bring a smile to his face, that makes a hundred butterflies flutter about inside his stomach and makes blood rush to his cheeks and to his ears.

 “I’m hungry,” he hears Hongbin say, “Why don’t we go grab some food?”

 

 So they do. They stop by a 7/11 on their way back to the dorm; buy microwaveable meals and several cups of instant ramyeon since neither of them can cook. Hongbin buys a coke and a hotdog bun for himself as well, sitting at one of the tables in the store with Sanghyuk across him, a steaming cup of ramen on the table.

 Sanghyuk can see that it’s already dark outside the convenience store’s large glass walls and he frowns in thought, slurping a little bit more of his ramen— yelping when it suddenly burns his tongue.

 Hongbin blinks at him, eyebrows furrowed in obvious concern.

 “You okay there?”

 “Yeah,” he says around a mouthful of ramen and a slightly numb tongue, small tears forming at the corners of his eyes, “Juth burnt my tongue,”

 Hongbin rolls his eyes now, “I thought as much,” he mutters, “Be careful, you idiot.”

 The words and the fondness subtly hidden in them (that, if Sanghyuk didn’t know better Hongbin, he would very easily miss) make him flustered. Sanghyuk’s heart is racing, his cheeks are warm, he’s wringing his hands underneath the table. Sanghyuk—

 Sanghyuk very maturely sticks his tongue out at him.

 “You’ve got mustard on your face by the way,” he snarks, just to continue the conversation and direct the topic away from him _please_ , “Just FYI.”

 Which prompts Hongbin to very quickly grab a napkin and wipe it over his mouth, and Sanghyuk laughs, finding the notion unbearably _adorable._

How can someone be so cute?

 

 Later they’re lounging around in the dorm room, far too full now to eat dinner. Hongbin is lying on the couch, idly playing something on his phone, not even into the game. Sanghyuk is on the floor, a trusty bag of chips by his side, reading through the play.

 Sanghyuk hears Hongbin sitting up, feels him half-heartedly throw his phone to the side, having lost interest, “I’m so bored,” he complains.

 “Hi, so bored,” Sanghyuk says, not even looking up from the script. He can practically feel Hongbin rolling his eyes and he has to force himself not to laugh.

 Hongbin kicks his side lightly, “Don’t sass me. Sass N-hyung,”

 “N-hyung isn’t here,” he says matter-of-factly, and he doesn’t need to see Hongbin to know that he has that exasperated look on his face, “Just stating facts.”

 “Smartass,”

 This time, Sanghyuk _does_ look up, meeting Hongbin’s eyes, his smile sweet as sugar, “I learned from the best, after all,” and even Hongbin can’t prevent a laugh at that, sinking down on the couch when he leans back.

 “Are you having a new play?”

 “Mhm,” he says, flipping to the next page, “Shakespeare. Merchant of Venice,”

 Hongbin hums in acknowledgement.

 “Is there a role that you want to play?”

 Sanghyuk pauses for a moment, stopping in the middle of a monologue (Nerissa’s, he thinks, talking about goodness or something like that) and then shakes his head, “No, not really.”

 “Are you auditioning?”

 “Yeah,”

 “Huh,” Hongbin says. Sanghyuk feels him stand up, footsteps heavy at Sanghyuk’s right, “I’m going to go to sleep now. Good night, Hyukkie,”

 “Night,” Sanghyuk says, prolonging the ‘i.’

 

 

Auditions are held on the Friday the week after the play had been announced, the two club periods in the middle used for rehearsing and memorizing and getting ready.

 Sanghyuk, in the end, does audition- not that anyone had expected any differently. Everyone who’s auditioning goes onstage, one by one, reciting a few lines from the play.

 The theatre club committee (well, to be honest, just Hakyeon and Jung Jinyoung) watches them with the gaze of a hawk, considering and calculating and taking every single move, every single tone of voice, into consideration before jotting down notes that nobody else will ever see and pondering on whether the person trying out should get a role or not.

 Hakyeon and Jinyoung are vigorous judgers, both known for their passion towards having as good of a play as possible while still enjoying the experience.

 Hongbin watches as well (ever the supportive best friend, his intentions obvious despite the cool, calm denial and the statement of, "i just wanted to pass the time,") and has front row seats to everyone's audition (yes, including Sanghyuk’s, because of course) like he always does.

 When it's Sanghyuk’s turn he grins and lifts his pocket camera to his eye, pressing down the camera shutter.

 (His take: Sanghyuk onstage with a shaky, nervous smile, playing with his fingers; the uneasiness nobody is exempted from when faced with the pressures of being onstage. Hongbin chuckles when he studies the photo. ah, adorable.)

 He holds the camera up again, just as Sanghyuk looks up and finds Hongbin’s gaze, the top part of his face covered by a small, handheld camera.

 His index finger presses down. Another snap.

 (Sanghyuk sending him a small, subtle glare-obviously, he'd noticed Hongbin taking photos of him- as well as a small pout.)

 Hongbin smiles and puts the camera back in his bag, leans back and makes himself comfortable on the soft theatre chair, watches Sanghyuk perform, eyes wide and interested. Sanghyuk can see his dimples all the way from here, can see how his eyes are trained on him and only him, as if everything in the world was dark and only Sanghyuk is illuminated.

 He feels the warm flush on his cheeks when Hongbin focuses all of his attention on him: onstage, shaking from familiar nerves, licking his lips and clearing his throat before he starts.

 (He can blame it on the lighting later, or on the chilliness of the auditorium, even when the air conditioner hasn't even been turned up halfway to the coldest temperature.)

 Sanghyuk launches into one of the most famous monologues in the play. Shylock’s: talking about the discrimination and disrespect from Christians towards Jews- complete with actions because why not.

 From the corner of his eye he can see Hongbin leaning forward a little bit, entranced and fascinated and captivated, his big eyes giving away how into the performance he is.

 "Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same disease?" Sanghyuk says with as much emotion in his voice as he can: anger, disgust, a certain type of grief that he can't even begin to put into words.

 "-if you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not die-"

 Shit! He’d said the wrong word. he looks at the two-man committee (plus Hongbin) for a moment, sees how Jinyoung's eyebrows are furrowed and Hakyeon’s are raised high enough to maybe even meet his hairline, sees how Hongbin looks like he's torn between laughing and staring in utter confusion or narrowing his eyes out of habit.

 His mind scrambles for a solution, any solution-

 "Of course we don't, because we only laugh," he says, and if relief could take a physical form everyone would be able to see it coming off of him in generous waves.

 Hakyeon nods, clearly satisfied. Jinyoung's looks at ease now, at least. Hongbin looks like he's fighting back a laugh.

 "-if you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us," pause for effect, breaking the fourth wall by staring at the currently empty audience (the three spectators excluded) intensely, "do we not… revenge?"

 He continues on and finally he's done with his turn- now standing in the center of the stage and bowing. Hakyeon grins, "you did good, Hyukkie!" and Hongbin is clapping, smiling like he always is, dimples sharp and clear and sending Sanghyuk's heart somersaulting.

 Later when auditions are over (it's well past seven, he and Hongbin will probably stop by some fast food restaurant on their way home), and when Hyuk rejoins Hongbin by the front row seats he's talking to Hakyeon.

 They look like they're deep in conversation. Serious conversation. Both sitting down, Hongbin’s head on Hakyeon’s shoulder (a sight Sanghyuk had thought he'd never see), eyes solemn as they both look straight ahead and murmur to each other underneath their breaths.

 And really, Sanghyuk shouldn't feel the pang of jealousy he does indeed feel when he sees them like this: so close. Almost intimate. It’s unreasonable since there is no imminent threat- Hongbin and Hakyeon have been friends ever since they were children, and they were raised together, and they have closeness with each other that Sanghyuk can't ever dream to recreate. Some sort of brotherhood.

 (And brotherhood is not what Sanghyuk wants with Hongbin. of course not. that would be… weird.)

 Hakyeon notices Sanghyuk first-just awkwardly standing there-, eyes brightening: "Hyukkie! We were just catching up. We haven't seen each other in a while," he's wearing that flawless smile, the one that shows his shining teeth.

 Sanghyuk smiles back. It’s hard to keep feeling down whenever Hakyeon’s here. He’s like an uncontrollable pair of wings that latches onto anyone, tested and proven to get your spirits up.

 "I’m gonna get going now," Hakyeon says, picking up his bag and heading out, "I’ll see you two around. Hongbin, stop by every once in a while, okay?"

 "I’ll see if i have time, hyung," Hongbin says back, at which Hakyeon scoffs.

 "I know you're going to anyway,"

 And then he's out the door, leaving only Hongbin and Sanghyuk inside.

 Sanghyuk wants to ask what that conversation with Hakyeon was about, why it had looked so important even when, according to Hakyeon, they were merely catching up.

 But he doesn't, because for one, he has no idea how to ask it, and two-

 Because Hongbin speaks first- Hongbin laughs, "we die when we get tickled, hm?"

 Sanghyuk rolls his eyes, blush rising once again in his cheeks.

 "Shut up," he mutters (whines), and Hongbin only laughs again, the timbre of his voice making Sanghyuk’s skin fizzle with nerves.

 "Yeah, okay," Hongbin says. "Forgotten, just like how you forgot those lines."

 "Hongbin!"

 Hongbin laughs once more and walks out of the auditorium, mock-sulky Sanghyuk trailing behind him. "You’re so mean!"

 Hongbin only smiles sweetly at him (oh, how Sanghyuk loves that smile) and shakes his head.

 "Nope. I'm an angel," he says when he closes the auditorium door behind them, “Let’s go grab dinner?”

 

*

 

 Sanghyuk gets cast as Lorenzo— a Catholic man in an illicit relationship with a Jewish girl (plot twist, she’s the bad guy’s daughter apparently) named Jessica. Her role is taken by someone named Jang So Jin (“Call me Soyee,” she’d said, holding out her hand with a sweet smile on her face) an underclassman who Sanghyuk has seen around but never really talked to.

 When there’s a play their club hours always spike. From four to five their schedule becomes four to half past seven, three and a half hours of vigorous rehearsals. Hongbin never fails to come watch practice, though, laughing whenever Sanghyuk messes up and egging him on from the sidelines whenever he can (it’s his own way to show support. Sanghyuk has learned to accept it.)

 (And as usual, of course, they order takeout right before they get home. They’ll eat together, poised before the TV, watching whatever is on and spilling food from their takeout boxes that Hongbin will surely bitch about later.)

 Hongbin always seems so absorbed whenever it’s Sanghyuk’s turn to be onstage. It makes Sanghyuk feel a little proud, a little giddy, and a whole lot embarrassed. He sends Sanghyuk wide grins from his place in the front row seats, looks at him with something akin to— dare he say it?— affection. Sanghyuk will never allow himself to indulge in that train of thought, though, because one:

 Hongbin doesn’t like him that way.

 Two: Hongbin doesn’t even swing that way.

 Three: if Hongbin really _does_ swing that way, he’d probably be gay for Hakyeon (which, Sanghyuk thinks, will be a little gross, because _God_ they could practically be brothers!)

 Sanghyuk shakes his head. Back to that previous thought.

 Okay, so Hongbin sends Sanghyuk those wide grins, dimpled and sweet with all thirty-two of his teeth shining even from several meters away, his eyes crinkled into small, happy moons. He cringes at the cheesy lines Sanghyuk has to say— (“Hate me for it, but I love her so much!”)— cringes at every single cheesy line in the play, actually. And Sanghyuk has to bite back giggles whenever he sees Hongbin at the corner of his eye.

 The thing, though, is that Hongbin is always spending a whole lot of time with Hakyeon (and as previously stated earlier is completely reasonable because of their closeness) and try as he might, Sanghyuk has begun to resent their friendship.

 All the signs are there. The way Hongbin talks to him, voice low, almost like he speaks of a secret only two of them know. The way he smiles at Hakyeon, genuinely appreciating him, genuinely treasuring him. It’s a side of Hongbin that he will never show whenever he and Hakyeon are not alone. The way Hakyeon touches him tenderly: none of those pretend love-hate that they’ve chosen to show the whole world.

 Sanghyuk can feel the bitter envy welling up deep in his stomach, the jealousy that has started to swell somewhere in his chest, and he hates it.

 There’s a snap of fingers right in front of Sanghyuk. It’s Soyee, with the same sweet smile, “Hakyeon called for a break,” she says, “Are you okay?”

 Sanghyuk nods.

 A break, finally, after two long hours of nonstop rehearsals. Sanghyuk cannot hide his relief. He takes the water bottle that’s generously offered to him and chugs a third of it down in one go. It feels like heaven for his parched throat.

 “What time is it?” he asks no one in particular when he goes backstage. Soyee checks her watch.

 “Eight. We’re doing blocking in fifteen,”

Fifteen minutes of break, then. Sanghyuk can only sigh, going to the shared dressing room backstage to sit down for a little bit. The couches are comfy there. Soyee leaves his side somewhere along the way. He passes nameless faces and faceless people who tell him, “Good job,” and “You did well,” and he replies with hasty “Thank you”-s.

 He finally reaches the dressing room and sinks down on a fluffy white couch. He closes his eyes. He’s alone with his thoughts once again.

 As the big day draws nearer rehearsal hours gradually grow as well. Now, a week before the play, Sanghyuk can only estimate that they’ll be dismissed at around half past nine. He groans. He still has an hour and a half. The horror.

 Hongbin hasn’t come at all yet, either. Maybe he just isn’t free tonight. Sanghyuk does remember him saying something about a portfolio thing for the photography club, after all.

 It’s just strange. Hongbin isn’t here to tease him for once. It unsettles Sanghyuk a little bit.

There’s a sudden shout of, “Hyukkie! Your boy toy is here~!” followed by a quite enthusiastic cry of “Hongbinnie!” the last syllable dragged out almost childishly, and then—

 “Ah, hyung! Get off!” and breathy laughter.

 “Is it wrong to miss my dongsaeng?”

 “You saw me yesterday,” a pause, “Hyung, I can’t breathe-“

 Sanghyuk laughs nervously, stepping out of the dressing room out to the waiting room where sure enough, Hongbin is standing, holding two plastic bags of take-out with Lee Jaehwan (who plays the most random person in the play, of course— Launcelot Gobbo) clinging to his back and smiling quite widely.

 “Jaehwan-hyung, you should probably let go of him now,” Sanghyuk says, his voice sheepish, and Jaehwan obediently gets off but his eyes have widened and his lips have formed a small “o,” as if he had come across some great discovery.

 “Is our Hyukkie,” he says slowly, conspiratorially, like he’s asking a question for a great, big, undiscovered secret, “Perhaps, jealous?’

 “No, _your_ Hyukkie is not jealous,” he says with a scowl even when he obviously is. Jaehwan laughs loudly and backs off, and Sanghyuk turns to look at Hongbin with a small frown, “You’re a bit later today.”

 “Did you miss me?” Hongbin asks innocently, and he ducks away just in time with a laugh and a wide grin when Sanghyuk swings an arm to hit him, dropping the takeout bags on the floor, “Don’t worry, Hyukkie. I didn’t know what time you would end so, I just brought dinner instead.”

 Sanghyuk flushes a deep red, “You really didn’t have to,” he mutters insistently before going back to the dressing room, Hongbin following behind him, takeout in his hands again. He places them on Sanghyuk’s dresser amidst the clutter of makeup and scripts and random works of literature and follows him out again when Sanghyuk gets called for blocking.

 Hongbin sneaks out of backstage, probably back to his usual first row seat to silently judge Sanghyuk once again, or take pictures, or think whatever he thinks when he’s watching Sanghyuk rehearse. Who knows what goes on in that mind of his. Hongbin looks in the mirror, strangely anxious. Okay. He can do this.

 Rehearsal passes in a blur, and before he knows it, it’s already half past nine and Hakyeon is saying, “Okay, you can all go now,” and Sanghyuk has collapsed on the couch backstage, drinking even more water. Sanghyuk looks up. Hongbin is talking to Hakyeon again. Did he talk to Hakyeon before going over to Sanghyuk? What about best friend slash roommate priorities? Huh?

 “Okay, Hongbinnie,” Sanghyuk hears Hakyeon say in a cheerful tone and Sanghyuk almost retches— don’t blame him, he’s allergic to sap (or, to be more accurate, Hakyeon-and-Hongbin sap which is mostly a onesided affair— until recently, that is.)

 The conversation seems to have ended, because Hakyeon leaves with Jaehwan, the latter shouting “See you soon, Binnie!” in a sing-song tone, and Hongbin goes inside the dressing room and goes back out, walking in the general direction of Sanghyuk before sitting down in the couch next to him. Sanghyuk can hear the crinkle of the plastic bag with every move Hongbin makes.

 There are only a few people left. There’s Jinyoung sweeping the floor and Soyee in the dressing room, probably arranging rows upon rows of makeup, and Sandeul writing something down in the corner. And then there’s the two of them, of course.

 “Let’s go outside,” Hongbin says, taking him by the wrist and tugging him up, his other hand holding both bags of takeout. And so Sanghyuk does, allows Hongbin to drag him outside of the school’s auditorium, where they are met with a grassy field. Hongbin brings him to one of the benches and tables stationed where the grass meets concrete, and they sit down, facing each other, a wooden park table between them.

 Hongbin smiles at him, doe eyes glittering under the glow of a nearby lamp.

 Sanghyuk has resolved to keep up an act of pouting for the rest of the night even when Hongbin really hasn’t done anything wrong. And he can do this. He _will_ do this. Even if Hongbin is kind of making it really hard for him right now. He’s an amazing actor, one of the best in the club according to Hakyeon—

 Eugh, Hakyeon.

 He inwardly hits himself with an exasperated exhale. Okay, Han Sanghyuk, do not be so mean and unsportsmanlike and ill-spirited. Be calm.

 The plastic crinkles some more and soon enough there’s a box of food slid right before him. A chicken meal. Great. How can he sulk around and pout like this?

 “Eat up,” Hongbin says with that same goddamn smile and Sanghyuk swears inwardly. He takes the chopsticks and starts eating up and Hongbin does as well, and they eat in silence, and when they finish Hongbin throws the trash for both of them.

 Why the heck, Sanghyuk thinks, does this feel like a date?

 “Do you wanna head home now?” Hongbin asks him, and screw pretending to sulk. That was a stupid idea anyway.

 “Huh,” Sanghyuk says, “Sure.”

 So they walk home, under a thousand million stars, and Hongbin feels so warm in contrast to the chilly evening, and Sanghyuk thinks it’s pretty beautiful.                                                                                                                                     

*

 Soyee is sick one day.

 Hakyeon freaks out a little because the big day is coming, everything needs to be surface, and Sanghyuk has to tell him that _hyung, Soyee’s memorized all her lines, it’ll be okay, they just need someone to replace her in the meantime._

Hakyeon calms down considerably after that, but then he freaks out again because who the heck would replace Soyee? Someone who would be comfortable enough with Sanghyuk, someone who wouldn’t mind the eye contact and the sappy lines and all. Someone who knows the lines, God damn it.

 Then Hakyeon stops.

 “Hongbin’s practiced with you once, right?” he says tentatively, “And he’s gone to enough practices to know what to say. He may as well play a part of anyone here,”

 Sanghyuk nods, answering on autopilot, “Hongbin’s been practicing some lines with me. I think he knows the script by heart at this point.”

 Then he immediately regrets it and feels sorry for his friend, because rehearsal with Hakyeon is all out. Even if you’re just a substitute for the meantime, you have to act as if you’re the actual actor. “Like they say,” Hakyeon always tells the substitutes when they complain, “when in Rome, do as Romans do.”

 Hakyeon doesn’t tolerate anything half-assed.

 Hakyeon lights up when Sanghyuk says this, grinning wide, and then he immediately whips out his phone, most likely to text Hongbin and to come unknowingly to his death. Sanghyuk doesn’t know how Hakyeon words it, exactly, but Hongbin is here in less than fifteen minutes. He’s panting, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead, to his neck, to his— wow, Sanghyuk, get your mind out of the gutter— and he looks like he’d just ran a marathon.

 Hakyeon beams, “Hongbinnie! Right on time! Hurry and get changed!”

 “Huh, what—”

 Hakyeon quickly grabs him by the shoulders and pushes him backstage, “You’ll be helping Hyukkie with his rehearsals,”

 “But I didn’t agree to this—”

 “He doesn’t have to, hyung,” Sanghyuk says, and Hakyeon shakes his head.

 “Nonsense! He totally did. Now come on, Hongbinnie, no time to waste,”

 Sanghyuk supposes there isn’t any other option but to accept this turn of events. So he stands there awkwardly while Hongbin is obviously being unceremoniously briefed about the play and being forced into his first outfit, until Jinyoung calls them out to start practicing again.

 

 The first act goes by smoothly, and before Sanghyuk knows it, it’s the sixth scene of the second act, and for some reason he’s really nervous.

 The prompt card reads: Enter Jessica, from above.

 Except now, Jessica is Hongbin, and Hongbin is not Soyee.

 Because one, Sanghyuk doesn’t have feelings for Soyee. And two, Sanghyuk has very real feelings for Hongbin.

 So Sanghyuk looks across the stage, rehearsed lines he knows by heart playing again and again and again in his mind: before, merely words he needs to speak beautifully as to captivate the fascination of the audience, now words that weigh heavily with a whole new meaning on his tongue.

"It is Lorenzo," he says to Hongbin standing on the other side, whom is looking ridiculous(ly pretty) with his long chestnut wig tied into a bob and his body hugged with old smocks, a boy disguised as a girl, disguised as a boy, "Your love."

 "Lorenzo, truly, and my love indeed," Hongbin says, the pitch of his voice higher than usual, and it sounds so strange and cute that Sanghyuk has to bite down hard on his lip so he won't burst into giggles.

 But then Hongbin pauses, which is not in the script, and he turns to Sanghyuk and strides over to his side of his stage: back straight, chest out, graceful and confident, which is definitely not in the script either. Jessica is not supposed to walk over to Lorenzo, not at all.

Hakyeon, who would usually be enraged at this turn of events, seems quite unaffected. It’s strange because he usually has a one-track mind when it comes to productions, but now he’s just leaning back and watching how the scene plays out. Sanghyuk barely has time to ponder over this when Hongbin stops just right before him.

 'Not in the script!' Sanghyuk's mind shouts and screams when Hongbin pulls him closer, firm hand on the small of Sanghyuk's back, sweet dimpled smile in place. 'Abort!' Sanghyuk’s mind cries, 'Abort!'

 Because no matter how in love he is with Hongbin, this has not been rehearsed, and he has no idea what to do and he isn't ready at all!

 Hongbin's lips quirk up the slightest more and Sanghyuk's heart flutters a teeny, tiny bit, and there's something shining in Hongbin's large brown eyes that Sanghyuk can't quite pinpoint.

 "For who else do i love so much?" he whispers, finishing his line, but the look in his eyes are telling a different story completely. “And now who but you knows whether I’m yours?”

 “As God is my witness, you know you’re mine,” Sanghyuk says, strangely out of breath, strangely out of character too, and Hongbin only laughs.

 And Hongbin pulls him closer.

 And Hongbin kisses him.

 The curtains come down.

**Author's Note:**

> oKAy whoa nix, something with a happy ending for once, dang. *confetti yay~*
> 
> hahah, i hoped y'all liked it. about time i wrote smthng happy eheh.
> 
> ~nyx out


End file.
